Scottish Executive

Burial and Cremation

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact on (a) elderly people and (b) people on low incomes of the Health and Safety Executive and the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management’s code of practice on the management of memorials.

Mr Andy Kerr: The guidance, issued by the Institute in 2000, with a contribution from the Health and Safety Executive on specific health and safety issues, covers all aspects of cemetery management. No formal assessment of the financial impact of the guidance has been made by the Scottish Executive.

Burial and Cremation

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-34111 by Malcolm Chisholm on 5 March 2003, when the review of the legislation governing burial and cremation will report.

Mr Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the question S2W-11909 answered on 16 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Caledonian MacBrayne

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the west coast ferry routes currently operated by Caledonian MacBrayne will now be tendered separately or as a single package.

Nicol Stephen: The Executive’s current position is that, with the exception of one route, the network will be tendered as a whole. This is intended to maximise service reliability for the communities served, simplify the process for management of vessels and provide economies of scale in company management, safety and quality systems. It also avoids cherry picking of routes and encourages integrated transport through co-ordinated timetabling of services. The one exception to this is the Gourock to Dunoon route where we consulted in 2003 on the possibility of tendering this route separately. This would offer the possibility of a passenger and vehicle service being provided, as opposed to the passenger only service envisaged in our original proposals for the network. I hope to announce my conclusions on this issue shortly. I intend to consult again shortly on the service specification for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.

Central Heating Programme

Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for the installation of a central heating system, from application to completion of all measures, under its central heating programme and whether it considers such a timescale to be acceptable.

Johann Lamont: I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

  The average waiting time from receipt of a completed application through to installation of the new heating system is five months. This includes a detailed technical survey of each individual property and ensuring that the works are carried out at a time convenient to the tenant or owner. Waiting times, along with all other aspects of the customer service provided by Eaga, who manage the contract on behalf of the Scottish Executive, are kept under constant review.

Crime

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to meet Strathclyde Police in light of the increase in the number of knife crimes in the Strathclyde area and, in particular, in Glasgow.

Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive is very concerned about knife crime and its contribution to violence. We are currently considering what measures are required to tackle violent crime including reviewing the law and enforcement on knife crime. I expect to discuss this with the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland in due course.

Crofting

Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Croft House Grant Scheme will contain measures to ensure that croft houses built under the scheme are warm homes.

Lewis Macdonald: The design of any house built under the new scheme and the materials used are a matter for the crofter. The new scheme will not impose any requirements beyond those set out in building control standards. However, the large increase in support for renovation should lead to significant improvements in the quality of existing croft houses.

Crofting

Eleanor Scott (Highlands and Islands) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for the proposed Crofting Reform Bill.

Ross Finnie: We expect the bill to be issued for consultation for a period of twelve weeks early in 2005. A final decision on when the bill will subsequently be introduced in the Parliament has yet to be taken by ministers.

Dental Health

Colin Fox (Lothians) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the report of the analysis of the responses to the consultation document on children’s oral health will be published.

Mr Andy Kerr: The analysis of the responses will be published when we announce the outcome of the consultation.

Diabetes

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected increase in NHS spending on diabetes will be over the next (a) one year and (b) three, (c) five and (d) 10 years.

Mr Andy Kerr: This information is not held centrally.

  It is not possible to calculate projected increases in NHS spending on diabetes because of uncertainty about how diabetes incidence and treatment options will change in the future.

  It is clear that the number of people with diabetes is increasing; (data from Tayside suggest that prevalence of diabetes is increasing by about 8% per annum). Although increasing numbers of patients will lead to increased costs, there is not necessarily a direct correlation between numbers of patients and costs. Variables include developments in treatment options, the efficiency and quality of diabetes services and societal changes in terms of attitudes and behaviours towards diet and exercise.

Enterprise and Lifelong Learning

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use to measure progress towards Enterprise and Lifelong Learning targets 1 to 3 in Draft Budget 2005-06.

Mr Jim Wallace: Enterprise and Lifelong Learning’s targets 1 to 3 refer to increasing business expenditure on research and development (R&D), improving the productivity of Scottish industry, and improving Scotland’s entrepreneurial performance respectively. Progress will be measured in each target as follows:

  Target 1 – Increase business investment in research and development compared to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) competitors.

  An increase in business investment is defined as an increase in total R&D expenditure by businesses in Scotland as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as published annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in "R&D Statistics". Any increase will be measured relative to the average figure for all OECD countries, as published by the OECD Economic Analysis and Statistics (EAS) Division of the Directorate for Science Technology and Industry (DSTI). An increase relative to the OECD average will be where the Scottish figure increases as a proportion of the OECD figure.

  Target 2 - Improve productivity levels in Scottish Industry compared to OECD countries.

  Productivity levels in Scottish Industry are defined using GDP per worker for international comparisons, and Gross Value Added (GVA) per worker for Scotland. Both measure the value of goods and services produced in an economy. OECD competitors are those countries included in the ONS Productivity database which relates to the G7 countries and includes USA, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Canada.

  Scotland’s performance against this target will be measured using bi-annual data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)’s regional competitiveness indicators. This data compares each region of the UK against the aggregate UK performance, which is indexed at 100. International comparisons will be made using GDP per worker indices from ONS’s international comparisons of productivity series. These are also available on a bi-annual basis, with new data being released each September. Therefore, Scotland’s performance will be evaluated annually. As the UK is set at 100, an index above 100 indicates better relative productivity for Scotland compared against the UK.

  Target 3 – Increase entrepreneurial activity over time.

  This target is measured using annual data on VAT registrations per 10,000 of the resident Scottish adult population. The number of enterprises registering for VAT each year is an indicator of the number of business start-ups. It excludes most of the very smallest one-person businesses. The number of VAT registrations is measured per 10,000 persons aged 16 and over, which are taken from the annual mid-year population estimates. This allows the calculation of the number of VAT registrations per head of the adult population. An increase will be deemed to have taken place if the number of VAT registrations per head is higher in subsequent years relative to the baseline.

Environment

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive when the specialist environmental prosecutors, announced on 9 February 2004, will begin work and whether it will publish their names and office addresses.

Colin Boyd QC: The network of specialist environmental prosecutors, announced on 9 February 2004, was fully operational from that date. The names and contact details are available to the relevant reporting agencies but there are no plans at present to publish more widely the names and office addresses of the specialist prosecutors.

Fertility Services

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether families with an adopted child have access to infertility treatment.

Mr Andy Kerr: The report of the Expert Advisory Group on Infertility Services in Scotland (EAGISS, 2000) recommended eligibility criteria for access to infertility services. The clinical criteria were based on evidence of effectiveness and the social criteria were designed to provide equity of access to services.

  The consensus view of the expert group, supported by the patient representatives advising them, was that, on equity grounds, couples who already have a child in the home, irrespective of the circumstances, should be ineligible for NHS-funded IVF in order that a childless couple may have this opportunity.

  NHS boards have been asked to work towards the implementation of the report as existing resources allow and bearing in mind local and national priorities.

  The Executive is currently reviewing infertility services in Scotland. If after the completion of this review, expected later in 2004, there was a recommendation to change the criteria then this would be subject to a full public consultation exercise.

Food and Environmental Protection Act 1985

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many alleged offences under the Food and Environmental Protection Act 1985 have been reported to procurators fiscal in each year since 1999, and, of these, how many have proceeded to prosecution and how many have resulted in a conviction.

Colin Boyd QC: In Fiscal Year (FY) 2002-03, only two charges were reported to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service - both were prosecuted and both were convicted. In FY 2003-04, three charges were reported, three were prosecuted and (to date) only one has been convicted. The two remaining charges are still subject of court proceedings.

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a commencement order is required before the general entitlement to information in section 1 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 takes effect and, if so, when such an order will be made.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2004 (SSI 2004/203), which was made on 29 April 2004, allows the general entitlement to information in section 1 of the act to come into force on 1 January 2005.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how the answer to question S2W-10400 by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 October 2004, showing that two children have died from whooping cough in Scotland since 1990, is consistent with the statement in the Sunday Herald on 22 August 2004 by public health official Dr Syed Ahmed that, of 100 babies who are hospitalised annually with a severe form of whooping cough, "about 10% die and most are under four or five months".

Mr Andy Kerr: The statistics given in the answer to question S2W-10400 are derived from data collected on discharges from non-obstetric and non-psychiatric hospitals (SMR01) in Scotland. There is no change to the information previously provided in response to question S2W-10400, answered on 4 October 2004.

  I am unable to comment on the specific statement made in this newspaper.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Health

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it organised a launch event for a rural health faculty to take place at Heriot-Watt University in the summer of 2002 and, if so, whether such a launch was subsequently cancelled by the then Minister for Health and Community Care.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive did not organise such an event, nor was any such event cancelled by the Minister for Health and Community Care. The concept of a network of health professionals was under discussion in 2001 and 2002 through the Remote and Rural Areas Resource Initiative (RARARI), which was funded by the Scottish Executive. Discussion of the concept included the possibility of developing a faculty of rural health. RARARI considered holding a conference to explore the possibility in more depth. In the event, RARARI did not pursue the idea of a conference pending further exploratory work. Ministers were not involved as the proposal was at an early, tentative stage.

  Since then, the thinking of those concerned has moved on and the expectation is that the aims of the proposed network might be better achieved in other ways.

Housing

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the grounds on which local authorities can seek to refuse applications to purchase housing under right to buy.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive has no plans to review the grounds on which local authorities can seek to refuse applications to purchase housing under the right to buy. The Executive, as required under section 52 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, will report to Parliament by September 2006 on the effect of the right to buy.

Livestock

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish all veterinary advice it has received with regard to the lifting of the Over Thirty Months scheme.

Ross Finnie: The Food Standards Agency has provided advice to the Scottish Executive on the lifting of the Over Thirty Month rule. This advice, which is published on the agency’s website, included veterinary input. The Executive did not seek or receive separate veterinary advice on this matter.

Livestock

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid in compensation to cattle farmers in each of the last five years where herds have been affected by (a) bovine tuberculosis, (b) enzootic bovine leukosis, (c) brucellosis and (d) BSE.

Ross Finnie: No compensation has been paid in respect of enzootic bovine leukosis in Scotland in the last five years. Compensation paid for bovine TB and brucellosis in Scotland is as follows:

  

 
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003


Bovine TB
£52,110
£43,538
£33,186
£224,169
£619,174


Brucellosis
£13,639
£3,351
£4,154
£4,768
£385,781



  Compensation in respect of BSE cases, including the offspring cull, is paid by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on a GB basis and separate figures for Scotland are not held centrally. The following table lists the total amount of compensation paid in GB in each of the last five years.

  

Year
BSE and Offspring Cull Compensation paid in GB


1999
£6,164,059


2000
£2,711,665


2001
£1,881,227


2002
£3,026,955


2003
£1,475,164

Livestock

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what budgetary provision it intends to make for claims for compensation to cattle farmers for herds affected by endemic diseases in each of the next two financial years.

Ross Finnie: The spending round 2004 plans provide some £0.47 million a year from 2005-06 for claims for compensation by farmers whose herds have been affected by endemic diseases. The costs for BSE are borne by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for the whole of the UK.

  The provision for the diseases which we cover is necessarily set at a "token" level given the unpredictability of disease occurrence, with any extra cost resources met from savings elsewhere in my department’s spending.

Livestock

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations it intends to put in place with regard to the definition of the value of pedigree livestock in respect of (a) an individual beast and (b) a premium herd.

Ross Finnie: We are currently consulting on proposals to introduce early in 2005 a revised compensation system based on table valuations for bovine animals slaughtered to counteract the spread of endemic diseases.

  We consulted on proposals to rationalise compensation for all notifiable animal diseases earlier this year. The approach proposed now is broadly similar but differs in two distinct ways. The table valuation system now includes pedigree animals. In addition, the number of categories of stock has been greatly increased, from 10 to 29 with scope for further additions, as a result of the earlier consultation. No final decision has been taken yet on the pre-valuation of individual higher value animals.

  The livestock sales information which will be gathered from markets throughout GB should enable a reasonable table of valuations to be set. In addition it is proposed to set up of an advisory group whose remit will be to scrutinise and monitor the market values to ensure fairness of application of the new system.

  The table valuations will be introduced by a new cattle compensation order initially to cover brucellosis, TB, enzootic bovine leukosis and BSE.

MMR Vaccine

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in place to carry out MMR vaccination programmes in schools as part of an "extended-day" schools scheme, as reported in The Sunday Times on 17 October 2004.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Executive is not aware of any plans, local or national to implement such a scheme in Scotland.

NHS Expenditure

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the variations in costs for operations in hospitals, as reported in Scottish Health Service Costs (NHS Cost Book 2004) and what the reasons are for the increase in costs since 1999.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish health service cost book reports average specialty costs, it does not report on the costs of procedures/operations.

  There are a number of reasons for variations in average specialty costs across NHS Scotland, primarily relating to differences casemix complexity between hospitals.

  With respect to the increase in costs since 1999, there are several factors, namely:

  Improvements in the quality of service delivery within the NHS;

  The changing nature of service delivery has resulted in less complicated procedures being transferred to other settings (e.g. out-patient clinics). As a result, there is an increasing trend for inpatient treatments to be more resource intensive than in previous years. This is reflected in higher average speciality costs over time, and

  Staff costs have also increased. This is attributable to changes in working practices (e.g. reductions to junior doctors hours) coupled with rises in the number of frontline NHS staff.

NHS Pay

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when, and how, it will monitor and evaluate the comparative outcomes of Agenda for Change for various health professions in relation to gender.

Mr Andy Kerr: Agenda for Change is a new UK level pay and conditions system for non medical NHS staff.

  In Scotland there will be a phased implementation of assimilation of staff onto Agenda for Change. This is not expected to be complete until the second half of 2005. It has been agreed that there will be gender and ethnic monitoring of posts put through the Matching/Job Evaluation process using CAJE, the new Computer Aided Job Evaluation system. Each health system in Scotland will have access to CAJE.

  At UK level, all aspects of the job evaluation process will be monitored by the Job Evaluation Working Party, reporting to the Shadow Executive of the new NHS Staff Council. This monitoring will be supported by CAJE.

  In Scotland informed evidence from these processes will be gathered by the pay modernisation team for Agenda for Change and reported to the Scottish Pay Reference and Implementation Group, a partnership body set up to advise Scottish ministers on the implementation of Agenda for Change.

NHS Pay

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when, and how, it will monitor and evaluate the comparative outcomes of Agenda for Change for various health professions in relation to the sector of the health service in which they work.

Mr Andy Kerr: Agenda for Change is a new UK level pay and conditions system for non medical NHS staff.

  In Scotland the Scottish Pay Reference and Implementation Group (SPRIG), a partnership body which advises Scottish ministers on the implementation of Agenda for Change, has agreed to a phased implementation of the matching/job evaluation process involving a timetabled approach for job families/occupational groups. The timetable takes account of requests from the service and special health boards to reflect their different workforce profiles and the need for SPRIG to monitor outcomes by job family/occupational group.

  Assimilation of staff onto Agenda for Change is not expected to be completed until the second half of 2005. Subsequently, SPRIG and the pay modernisation team for Agenda for Change will be overseeing monitoring and evaluation of outcomes across different staff groups and sectors of health care, for example by tracking implementation of the knowledge and skills framework and its impact on career development, the use of job evaluation to redesign jobs and extend skills, and the effectiveness of the pay system to facilitate teamworking and more flexible working patterns.

  At UK level, all aspects of the job evaluation process will be monitored by the Job Evaluation Working Party, reporting to the shadow executive of the new NHS Staff Council. This monitoring will be supported by CAJE, the new computer aided job evaluation system.

  CAJE has the facility to monitor outcomes against the job evaluation scheme for all professional groups in all parts of the country. Information on these outcomes will therefore reported to SPRIG on whatever basis is required by this group.

NHS Pay

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when, and how, it will monitor and evaluate the comparative outcomes of Agenda for Change for various health professions in relation to recruitment and retention after December 2004.

Mr Andy Kerr: Agenda for Change is a new UK level pay and conditions system for non-medical NHS staff.

  Pay modernisation boards have been established across NHSScotland and these will work with the pay modernisation team for Agenda for Change and in partnership with staff representative groups to monitor and assess the recruitment and retention of affected staff, for example by tracking vacancy and turnover rates, and through continuing regular liaison between boards and the Executive concerning recruitment and retention pressures. These processes will seek to identify which aspects of these data are a result of Agenda for Change and which arise from other factors, although this may not always be possible to do.

  In Scotland the Scottish Pay Reference and Implementation Group (SPRIG), a partnership body which advises Scottish ministers on the implementation of Agenda for Change, has agreed to a phased implementation of the matching/ job evaluation process involving a timetabled approach for job families/occupational groups. This is not expected to be completed until the second half of the 2005 and data reflecting the impact of the full operation of Agenda for Change would become available thereafter.

  Informed evidence on these aspects of Agenda for Change will be reported to SPRIG.

  A feature of Agenda for Change is an agreement whereby premia of up to 30% of basic pay may be made to help overcome local recruitment and retention pressures. All requests for the application of recruitment and retention premia in Scotland would require approval from SPRIG.

NHS Pay

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the outcomes of the Agenda for Change pilot schemes were, broken down by staff group, and how many employees (a) were disadvantaged, (b) gained and (c) remained the same in respect of their pay and conditions under these schemes.

Mr Andy Kerr: The original findings from the four pilot sites in Scotland, including a break-down across staff groups, were published in August 2004. Copies of the reports are available on the web at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/sehd/paymodernisation.

  The pilot sites have been engaged in "dry run" exercises. Therefore the actual levels of staff protection under Agenda for Change will not be known until staff are assimilated onto Agenda for Change after the job matching and evaluation processes are complete. It should be noted that the protection rates indicated in the pilot site reports have since been overtaken by changes to the new pay system, and it is now expected that rates of protection will be significantly lower, reducing markedly the number of employees who will be disadvantaged.

NHS Waiting Times

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current waiting time is for a referral to a clinical psychologist, broken down by NHS board area.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not available centrally.

  Information on NHSScotland waiting times is collected centrally only for hospital in-patient and day case treatment and first out-patient appointments with a consultant, following referral by a general medical or dental practitioner. Clinical psychology is undertaken by a range of healthcare professionals and carried out in a variety of settings, including community and primary.

Nursing

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many temporary agency nursing staff there have been in the NHS since 1995, broken down by NHS board, and what the total annual cost was to the NHS.

Mr Andy Kerr: Information relating to agency nursing staff is available on table E12 and E13 of the ISD website www.isdscotland.org.

  Note: information on agency usage is only available from 1999. Information on agency costs is only available from 2001.

Police

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many full and part-time wildlife crime officers are employed by Scottish police forces and, of these, how many are civilian employees.

Cathy Jamieson: Within Scottish police forces, there are two full-time police staff employed on wildlife crime and 86 police officers who have wildlife crime designated as part of their normal police duties.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10941 by Cathy Jamieson on 13 October 2004, whether it will publish the Scottish Prison Service’s analysis that led to its conclusion regarding the public interest test.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS cannot publish the analysis relating to withheld information without risking the damage to the public interest which non-disclosure is intended to prevent. Publication of commercially confidential information, for example, could reduce competition in any future prison-related tender. This would increase prices, reduce value for money for the taxpayer and would not be in the public interest. The SPS has, however, provided the analysis (and other material) to the Information Commissioner at his request as part of his investigation into the decision to withhold certain parts of the contract with Reliance from the published version.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-10952 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, whether there will now be a reduction in the monies paid to Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd and, if so, by how much.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Yes there will be a reduction. The amount will be assessed once the escorts contract has been fully rolled out next year.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, whether the overheads of the police and the Scottish Prison Service will be reduced by these amounts as a result of the Reliance contract.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The contract enables SPS and its partner agencies to redeploy resources, including by redeploying officers and the associated overheads to front-line duties.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, what the breakdown of staff costs was between police forces.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Information on police costs was provided by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) as an all-Scotland figure. The ACPOS based this on the results of activity analyses carried out by each of the eight Scottish police forces and overseen by ACPOS.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, why the risk adjustment for the development of the new service was included in the Public Sector Comparator rather than in the costing for the contracting-out of the service.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  A risk adjustment was made to the Public Sector Comparator to the extent that risk would be no longer borne by the public sector under the new contract. This was necessary to ensure a like-for-like comparison and is in line with the Treasury’s "Green Book" guidance.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10926 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, how the costs which are not readily quantifiable were accounted for in the Reliance contract.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  These opportunity costs arise for the prison service when prison officers have to undertake escorts instead of their core role. The corresponding benefits arise to the prison service when escorts are undertaken by Reliance instead of the prison service. Since the costs and benefits accrue to the prison service alone, they are not accounted for in the contract with Reliance. Since they are not readily quantifiable, they were not included in the public sector comparator.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, whether the budgets for the police and for the prison service will be reduced by these amounts to take account of reduced responsibilities.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The escorts contract was taken into account in the Spending Review 2004. Neither the police nor SPS had their budgets reduced as a result of that process.

Prisoner Escorts

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, why the annual value for the public sector comparator is different from the figure which would be arrived at if the "net present value over seven years" was divided by seven.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  Expressing the public sector comparator as a net present value converts costs over several years into a single value in today’s money. This allows costs and benefits over different time periods to be compared and takes account of the fact that £1 now is worth more to SPS than £1 in seven years’ time. This method is described and recommended in the Treasury’s "Green Book" guidance, which was followed for the escorts contract. The Green Book also explains in more detail why the net present value over a number of years is usually different from the sum of annual costs.

Public Private Partnerships

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10909 by Mr Tom McCabe on 12 October 2004, what role it plays over the appointment of directors of Partnerships UK that is appropriate to its shareholding.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive and HM Treasury are B ordinary shareholders and as such have the right to appoint two directors. HM Treasury’s shareholding represents 44.56% and Scottish ministers 4.44%.

Research

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what direction it gives to the Chief Scientist Office regarding investment in research.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO) is part of the Scottish Executive Health Department and has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health and health care needs in Scotland. The CSO’s current Research Strategy, which outlines the priority areas for the five years to 2008, was the subject of wide consultation and was published with ministerial approval in August 2003. The document is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 29075).

Research

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the budget of the Chief Scientist Office.

Mr Andy Kerr: As announced in the Draft Budget 2005-06, the research budget has increased by 3.4% to £15.114 million for 2005-06. Support funding provided to NHS boards for research will also increase by 6.1% to £37.504 million.

Research

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it offers to PhD students engaged in medical research and how many such students it has funded in each of the last five years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive Health Department, Chief Scientist Office, offers Health Services Research Postgraduate Studentship and Training Fellowships.

  Details of the awards are contained in the Chief Scientist Office annual reports which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 11175, 27122, 27123, 34365 and 34366).

Research

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will attract and develop biomedical research.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and the Enterprise Networks have a wide variety of programmes for the purpose of attracting and developing research by universities and businesses. Biomedical research benefits from substantial funding from all these bodies. Very significant additional resources have been provided in this year’s Spending Review in order to maintain the competitiveness of our university research base.

  An example of a joint Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning and Health Department project is the £4 million funding of research into the causes of genetic diseases. The Genetics and Healthcare Initiative (GHI) seeks to build on Scotland's existing academic, clinical and biotechnological strengths in this field.

Research

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total value of commercialisation of biomedical research was in each of the last five years.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally.

Research

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will promote the role of biomedical research.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive’s A Science Strategy for Scotland , published in August 2001, and the Scottish Science Advisory Committee’s report "Science Matters" published in January 2004, both indicated that bioscience and medical research are two of Scotland’s priority areas for science, and will be of key strategic value in developing the economy and enhancing quality of life. The Executive will continue to emphasise the value it places on these areas whenever it is appropriate to do so.

Sex Offenders

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals on the sex offenders’ register are resident in Scotland.

Cathy Jamieson: At 1 November 2004, there were 2,344 individuals resident in Scotland who are registered with Scottish police forces under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

Speech and Language Therapists

Alex Fergusson (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when, and how, it will monitor and evaluate the comparative outcomes of Agenda for Change for speech and language therapists and clinical psychologists at divisional, board and regional levels, given the equal value settlement.

Mr Andy Kerr: Under the Agenda for Change job evaluation scheme, which was specifically designed for the NHS, all professional groups are assessed under the same evaluation criteria. One of the founding principles of this scheme is to ensure equal pay for work of equal value across all staff groups covered by Agenda for Change.

  In Scotland the Scottish Pay Reference and Implementation Group (SPRIG), a partnership body which advises Scottish ministers on the implementation of Agenda for Change, has agreed to a phased implementation of the matching/job evaluation process. Job families/occupational groups will be timetabled into this phased approach with speech and language therapists and clinical psychologists to be covered in the same phase, expected in May 2005.

  All health systems in Scotland will have CAJE systems and the results of each individual evaluation will be recorded on this system. The central Pay Modernisation Team for Agenda for Change will monitor evaluations and job matching outcomes to ensure that results are carefully checked using the consistency checking scheme built into the system.

  Further quality assurance monitoring will be carried out by a partnership monitoring team consisting of staff from the pay modernisation team, members of the Scottish Pay Reference and Implementation Group and Job Evaluation Leads from the service. Any anomalies or inconsistent results, whether between divisions, boards or regions, will be identified through this process and either addressed at local level or reported to SPRIG.

  At UK level all aspects of the job evaluation process will be monitored by the Job Evaluation Working Party, reporting to the Shadow Executive of the new NHS Staff Council. This monitoring will be supported by CAJE, the new Computer Aided Job Evaluation system.

Transport

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive against which "measurable milestones" it will assess improvements to the trunk road network, as referred to in Transport target 3 of Draft Budget 2005-06.

Nicol Stephen: The measurable milestones are currently being developed in conjunction with our road condition survey consultants.

Water Industry

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding the proposed Quality and Standards III investment programme for Scottish Water and whether this includes advice about compatibility with the EU Water Framework Directive.

Lewis Macdonald: SEPA is a key stakeholder actively involved in the Quality and Standard three project group which is advising on the extent of the industry’s investment requirements, post 2006. This work has informed the content of the recent consultation, Investing in Water Services 2006-2014 . As part of this process, SEPA’s advice has covered the extent of investment required for environmental targets including the Water Framework Directive. SEPA has also submitted a formal response to this consultation.

Water Industry

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received from Scottish Natural Heritage regarding the proposed Quality and Standards III investment programme for Scottish Water.

Lewis Macdonald: Scottish Natural Heritage is a key stakeholder involved in the Quality and Standard three project group which is advising on the extent of the industry’s investment requirements, post 2006. This work has informed the content of the recent consultation, Investing in Water Services 2006-2014. In addition, Scottish Natural Heritage has also submitted a response to this consultation.

Water Industry

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that its decisions regarding the proposed Quality and Standards III investment programme for Scottish Water are consistent with its sustainable development principles, in particular with the "polluter pays" principle.

Lewis Macdonald: The Quality and Standards three process takes place within a statutory framework which places great value on sustainable development. Scottish ministers, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the responsible authorities are required under section 2(4) of the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 to act in a way best calculated to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development principles. In addition, under section 51 of the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002, Scottish Water must "act in such a way best calculated to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development".

Wildlife

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many alleged offences against protected wildlife have been reported to procurators fiscal in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many have proceeded to prosecution and how many have resulted in a conviction.

Colin Boyd QC: Complete and accurate information on the number of offences against protected wildlife reported to procurators fiscal prior to 2002 cannot be provided without disproportionate cost. Information available for financial years 2002-03 and 2003-04 relates to cases reported under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Protection of Badgers Act 1992 and is as follows:

  

Number of Cases Under Wildlife and Countryside Act and Protection of Badgers Act
FY 2002-03
FY 2003-04


Reported
18
36


Proceedings taken
13
19


Alternative to prosecution
1
5


Conviction
10
8


Proceedings not yet completed
-
4

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Parliamentary Visits

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many visits outwith Scotland have been undertaken by MSPs in respect of their parliamentary duties since the start of Session 2.

George Reid: Since the start of Session 2 MSPs have made 160 visits outwith Scotland in respect of their parliamentary duties. Of these visits, 72 were made under the Members Support Allowance within the UK or to Brussels/Strasbourg, 46 under the auspices of External Liaison Unit and 42 as committee visits.